I decided my next Death by Holga book project will be a collection of portraits. I will start by taking selfies and photographs of my family. From there I will move to photographers*, friends and co-workers. My end goal will be to entice local and national celebrities to sit for a photo shoot.

Why Death by Holga?

My passion for photography lies with the use of Holga cameras and film. So I will continue to do most, if not all, photographs using a Holga camera. But that will not be the limit to my creativity. I will use many different cameras in my collection including the following:

• Rolleicord V
• Baby Speed Graphic
• NEW Intrepid 4×5 Camera
• Polaroid SX-70
• Kodak Six-20

I’m not looking to take snap shots. I plan on making each sitting a real photo shoot with good lighting and a little patience. Maybe I’ll get an interesting story out of my sitter that would make for nice reading in the book.

Photography and Printmaking

Photography will not be the only art form in Death by Holga: Portraits. I will create several block prints and etchings. Most of these will be from the photographs I take, but some will be collections of celebrities for my Dearly Departed series, a who’s who of celebrities who died in a particular year. And I may not limit my portraits to people. I might photograph a few places and things, so long as they feel like a portrait.

A secondary goal of this book project will be a gallery exhibition. I plan on creating real darkroom enlargements of all the photographs in the book.

Celebrities

I am just now starting my list of local and national celebrities that I would like to photograph. I hope the creative works displayed on this site and others will green light some opportunities. I would love to photograph any of the following:

• George Bush, former President of the United States
• Laura Bush, former First Lady
• Mike Rawlings, Dallas mayor
• Susan Hawk, Dallas district attorney
• John Wiley Price, Dallas county commissioner
• Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner
• Troy Aikman, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback
• Roger Staubach, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback
• John McCaa, WFAA Channel 8 news Anchor
• Cynthia Izaguirre, WFAA Channel 8 news anchor
• Bo Roberts and Jim White, Lone Star 92.5 deejays
• Paula Poundstone, comedian
• Willy Nelson, singer
• Kinky Friedman, author
• ZZ Top, band
• Chuck Norris, actor

The above is a wish list. Who I will be able to get is anybody’s guess. If you know anyone on my wish list and get me a contact, I would greatly appreciate the connection.

Publication and Exhibition

Death by Holga: Portraits will be published in 2016 by Dallas Art Press. My goal is to have a gallery showing of the works on display at the same time.

Stay tuned.

* Yes, photographers are closer than friends. These people eat, sleep and breath photography. They share the same passion. They own the same equipment. Photographers are family.

Death by Holga: 11.22.63 can now be purchased through Amazon.com. Get your copy today!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989885909

Click here to read the full press release on Dallas Art News (www.dallasartnews.com).

I don’t normally experiment with my photographs. I like them exactly as they are shot. My usual enhancements are in line with what a darkroom technician can do. I adjust the color, improve the contrast and remove some of the dust. I don’t like cropping my images because Holga photographs display best when showing the entire image.

I decided to combine a cemetery monument of Jesus and a lifeguard stand. Both photographs are from Galveston, Texas. I used the fullness of each image, which seems to enhance the vignetting. The ghost image of Jesus over the lifeguard stand give the photograph an interesting meaning. Are they both looking out for us?

My next combination wasn’t so deep. I combined the word art from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth sign with Vortex by Richard Serra (2002), the large sculpture outside the museum. Vortex is a collection of steel plates all standing together like a giant red wood tree. The sculpture nearly 68 feet high with room for a large crowd to stand inside. There are two slit at the base that allow visitors to pass through the work. I prefer My Curves Are Not Mad (1987) at the Nasher Sculpture Center. Still the stone word and the steel go together nicely. I could actually take this shot a a double exposure on a Holga, which I will try next time I’m in cow town.

The combination of Lee Harvey Oswald’s grave marker and the Oneal ambulance that took Oswald to Parkland Hospital did not turn out very well. I like the ambulance. I just don’t like how plane looking Oswald’s marker appears. His original marker had much more detail.

The first combination at the top of the page is 602-604 Elsbeth and 214 W. Neely. These were residence of Lee and Marina Oswald in Dallas. The Oswalds lived at the Elsbeth apartments in late 1962 to early 1963. They moved to the Neely house in March 1963. Overlaying the photos gives the Neely house a more sinister look than its usual happy yellow facade. I only used the window and surrounding bricks from the Elsbeth apartment, which give the Neely house the appearance of having a porch and a brick wall near the street.

The last photos I combined are the signs for Dallas Love Field and Parkland Emergency Room. These photos mark the beginning and end of President Kennedy’s journey through Dallas. It if wasn’t for the presidential motorcade through Dallas, Kennedy could have driven straight to the Dallas Trade Mart in about five to ten minutes.

The Dallas Love Field and Parkland Emergency Room photo is not an exact match of square frame to square frame. I took liberty in adjusting the ER sign and I really like how the security camera appears in the blue sky.

Let me know what you think of my digital enhancements. I am always looking for ways to make my photographs more interesting and unique. Cheers.

I ventured to East Texas to find the final resting place of Ira J. Beers, Jr. Mr. Beers was a staff photographer for The Dallas Morning News, one of the two major news papers for Dallas metro area, the other paper being the Dallas Times Herald¹. I believe Beers was in President Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas on Friday, November 22, 1963. I know Beers was in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters on Sunday, November 24, 1963, for the transfer of Lee Harvey Oswald from the city jail to the county jail.

It was during this transfer that Jack Ruby, owner of the Carousel Club, shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged² assassin of President Kennedy and alleged murderer of Officer J.D. Tippit.

Mr. Ruby was apprehended and Mr. Oswald was rushed to Parkland Hospital. Ruby found himself in the same jail cell previously occupied by Oswald, and Oswald was taken to the same emergency room as Kennedy³. Oswald did not survive.

Beers was not the only photographer waiting for the transfer of Oswald to the county jail. There were numerous television cameras, photographers and reporters for the local and national media. This included Dallas Times Herald staff photographer Robert Jackson.

Beers and Mr. Jackson were positioned differently in the crowded basement. Beers had a good view of the doorway where Oswald would be entering and Jackson was closer to the car that would be used for the prisoner transfer. And somewhere in the middle was Ruby.

When Oswald was brought out, the television lights went on and out stepped Jack Ruby from the shadows with a gun. Beers photographed Ruby about to shoot Oswald, who was oblivious to the gunman. Less than a second later, Jackson photographed Oswald in pain with a bullet in him and an alert Det. James Leavelle trying to move Oswald out of the way.

A lot can happen in less than a second, which can be seen in the photographs taken by Beers and Jackson. Beers’ shot, while very good, lacks the drama that was captured by Jackson. In Jackson’s shot can be seen the suffering on Oswald’s face and the grit of the Dallas Police on Det. Leavelle’s face. The emotions speak volumes.

Robert Jackson won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph. Ira Beers did not.

I have read that not winning the Pulitzer Prize haunted Beers for the rest of his days.

Beers had a great angle. He was high with a good sight of Oswald. His photo is well lit and shows all the action. The only thing missing is the look on Oswald’s face.

Kildare Cemetery

Ira J. Beers, Jr. was not an easy man to find. Just imagine the number of search results you can get for beers.

I went old school to find Beers. I narrowed down his date of death and then visited the Dallas Public Library to view obituaries from The Dallas Morning News on microfilm. Services for his funeral were handled locally, but his final resting place was at Kildare Cemetery, about 165 miles east of Dallas. I confirmed his interment with a Kildare Cemetery historian.

I trekked out to Kildare Cemetery on Presidents Day, February 18, 2013. It was a two and a half hour drive from my home. Once at the cemetery, it took me nearly forty minutes to locate Beers. I was told he was in section B, but there are no section markings anywhere in the cemetery.

Kildare Cemetery is a nice, country meadow with 200-300 internments. A paved road divides the cemetery up the middle and an American flag stands post near the entrance.  Most of the memorials are gray marble. There are only a handful of statuettes. Within the cemetery is another fenced in private cemetery. Even in death the rich are still trying to keep out the poor.

I had nearly given up my search to find Beers when I happened upon his monument. Beers has a metal military monument. It is nearly the color of the ground and leaves. I almost missed it. Had I visited it at the height of fall, it may have been covered in leaves and I would have missed it.

Beers is located on the east side by the chain-link fence between two upright Rosser monuments.

Photography

I try to get some basic shots with every cemetery visit. I take photos with both my film Holga cameras and my digital Nikon D7000. I use my Nikon to determine what film speed would be best. It was cloudy in the Kildare Cemetery, but not enough to use higher than 100 and 160 ISO film. In case I am wrong, I do take digital back-up photos.

My first order of business is to make sure the N-B switch on the bottom is set to N. N stands for Normal and B stands for Bulb, or as I like to remember, Blurry. Checking the N-B switch keeps me from wasting a roll of film and a very long car ride.

My Holga shots start out simple with direct overhead or square on shots. I change the focus from 3 ft. to 6 ft. After having the basic shots in the can, I start creating angles and double-exposure shots.

Cloudy days are more freeing than others. I can create multiple double-exposure shots without blowing out the film. For this monument I did some over lapping exposures. I triggered the shutter and advanced the film a few clicks (not all the way to a new photo). This may turn out to be either the worst of best photo in the bunch.

All photographs currently showing on this page are from my Nikon D7000. The film has not been developed. Cheers.

Footnotes

¹ The Dallas Morning News acquired the Dallas Times Herald on December 8, 1991. The Morning News closed the Herald the next day.

² Lee Harvey Oswald did not live to be convicted of either crime and thus remains an innocent man.

³ Lee Harvey Oswald was not in exactly the same emergency room, but a different room in the same emergency room facility. My wife, a nurse, keeps telling me it is an emergency department, which better clarifies the room confusion. But I tell her that nobody would watch a show called ed.

There are some images that have nothing to do with the Kennedy assassination other than I thought it would be nice to photograph them because I was in the neighborhood. In addition to Kennedy related subjects I also got gangster Al Capone, writer Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace home, actor Robert Reed and poet Shel Silverstein.

More than you ever wanted to read can be found in the Travel Log: Kennedy Assassination Tour Summer 2012. I tried as best I could to update the log daily with what, when and where I was during the tour.

Kenned Assassination Tour Summer 2012 Gallery

Click any of the thumbnail images below to see a larger version.

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Consider reading this Travel Log in reverse order from bottom to top. Newer posts were added on top. Older posts are at the bottom.

Post Tour Travel Notes

The Northern Face hiking shoes I bought were great. They were very comfortable.

The First Accent pants from Eddie Bauer were also very comfortable, but they caused issues with the airport security scanner every time. The pants have two zipper pockets on each outer thigh that caused me to be frisked at each TSA check point.

I brought along a tripod and my Holga wide pinhole camera. I should have left this at home because I did not have any time for pinhole images. I could have saved the weight.

I bought a neck pillow for the flights. I believe the neck pillow design could be improved by removing some of the padding that goes directly behind the neck. I used the pillow more as a book holder than a neck pillow.

Being a Gold Reward rental car member is worth it. I left each airport and walked directly to my car. This probably saved me 30-60 minutes per stop. This is time that I did not have to spare.

I would like to get the new Nikon 18-300mm lens. This would easily replace my 16-85mm and 70-300mm lens and lighten my camera bag. I have also considered getting a Nikon P7100. Traveling light is the key to success.

Monday, July 9, 2012

I will be dropping off film with BWC Creative today. I expect to get the negatives back by Friday, at the latest.

Friday, July 6, 2012

10:00 a.m. – I’m at the Tampa Int. Airport. I will be flying to Houston and then to Dallas. I can’t wait to be home.

7:45 a.m. – Found Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman’s grave in St. Petersburg, FL. He is in the north side mausoleum of the Memorial Park Cemetery. Kellerman is buried with his wife.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

7:55 p.m. – I flew out of Greenville / Spartanburg Airport to Houston. I am waiting for my ride to Tampa. Just one more grave to find this week. If I get it, then this trip will be 100% successful.

2:00 p.m. – It’s getting late and I have a plane to catch. Elsa, my GPS, leads me to the far side of the Athens cemetery, which is barred and marked No Tresspassing. I then read a note on findagrave.com that says they don’t allow photos. Dang.

As I started for the air port, I realize the cemetery is part of the Univ. of Georgia campus. I found the correct entrance to the cemetery near the football stadium. I found Dean Rusk in the new section of the Athens Cemetery alright. I had a little help form a librarian, who was walking in 99 degree heat for exercise.

11:30 a.m. – On my way to find Dean Rusk, I decide to find U.S. Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. first. Good thing too because he was not where FindSGrave.com said he would be. I found him and the other Russells in Winder, GA, not Commerce.

7:00 a.m. – With help from Daryl Hannah, not the actress but way prettier, I located Kennedy’s limo driver William Greer. This is a very beautiful cemetery. Looks like there are over 5,000 graves on this hillside cemetery. There is a wonderful view of mountains with a little mist in the distance.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

7:40 p.m. – Flight back to Chicago and then on to Greenville, NC. I got a Milk & Cookies sundae from Ben & Jerry’s. Mmmmmm.

1:30 p.m. – I drove back across Michigan from Grand Rapids to Dearborn. I visited The Henry Ford museum. There I photographed Kennedy’s limo.

There were 6-12 people around the limo at all times. Most people stared in awe while others, like me, took photos.

The Henry Ford also has the Rosa Parks bus from Montgomery, AL. The bus has been beautifully restored to showroom quality. It is very popular with parents trying to explain its significance.

9:00 a.m. – Located President Gerald R. Ford and First Lady Betty Ford’s grave memorial garden. It is very beautiful with wonderful landscaping.

Then U.S. Representative Ford was part of the Warren Commission. The museum almost glosses over this entire fact. They only talk about how long the commission took, his visit to Dallas and his book on the subject.

Most of the museum discusses his succession to the presidency.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

11:30 p.m. – At my hotel for the night. Cheers.

7:40 p.m. – I grabbed my first Chicago dog at the Midway Airport before flying to the Motor City.

4:00 p.m. – Visited the Ernest Hemingway birthplace home in Oak Park. It was a really nice tour for Hemingway fans. I am really glad I added this to my tour. I’m a big Hemingway fan and this is a really cool house.

2:00 p.m. – I found Jack Ruby at Westlawn Cemetery. I also found poet Shel Silverstein.

This is a Jewish cemetery and there is a funeral happening. I need to be quick with my photos. I could be tossed out at any minute.

10:00 a.m. – After a long drive and lots of toll road fees, I finally found Historic Auto Museum in Roscoe, IL. I got there about 10 minutes before they opened. I easily made up the time that I lost looking for Robert Reed.

The Historic Auto Museum has everything including Bonnie & Clyde’s bullet riddled car, the Grizwald’s Family Truckster, and a time-machine made out of a Delorian. They have a large collection of presidential memorabilia, including cars, documents, furniture, wax figures, etc.

I was mainly there for Lee Harvey Oswald’s gravestone and got a lot more. The added bonus was the original Secret Service follow-up car used in Dallas and the taxi cap Oswald used after the shooting. I hope these photos turn out too.

7:00 a.m. – The day stated early at 5:00 a.m. I got to the cemetery at 6:30 a.m. but they were not open till 7 a.m. I had to get help from the office to find Karyn Cookie Kupcinet and Robert Reid.

Cookie was easy to find, but Mr. Brady took some work and I was out of time. I searched for 15-20 minutes. I found him when I was about to leave.

I just could not get The Brady Bunch theme song out of my head. Finding Mr. Brady put me about 15 minutes behind schedule.

Monday, July 2, 2012

10:00 p.m. – Finally at my hotel for the evening. I have another full day again tomorrow. Cheers.

6:30 p.m. – Went to downtown Chicago to find Klein’s Sporting Goods. I know they went out of business a long time ago. I was hoping to find the old build. What I did find was a new modern building. If the building next to it is any indication, then Chicago lost a really cool old building.

1:00 p.m. – Wow! I almost did not get to see Kennedy’s Air Force One. I had to do some begging and pleading. I did get to see it. Thanks to Gail in Operations I did get to see SAM 26000.

The museum has a sign-up sheet for the bus ride over to the Presidential and R&D hangar. The bus has a limited number of seats. The next bus, which was already full, was going to leave at 2:15 p.m. I had to be out of there by 2:30 p.m. to stay on schedule. I just can’t thank Gail in Operations enough for arranging me a ride over to the hanger.

The outside of SAM 26000 has been returned to its presidential glory, but the inside is still configured as a regular government transport, not a presidential plane. There is clear plexiglass down each side of the aisle, which is a very tight squeeze in some places. Visitors can enter the front of the aircraft and walk through and exit the rear.

I’m on my way to Chicago now.

5:00 a.m. – The Kennedy Assassination Tour Summer 2012 started bright and early with at 3:50 a.m. wake-up. I’m now at Dallas Love Field waiting for my ride to St. Louis and then on to Columbus. See you at NMoUSAF.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

10:15 p.m. – Time for bed. The tour begins at 3:50 a.m. See you bright and early. Cheers.

7:00 p.m. – My bags are packed and I’m ready to go. I’ve already made the tough decisions like which of my Holga cameras stay and which get to go. I have an overfull camera bag with the following:

• Nikon D7000 with two lenses and flash
• Holga F-mount for Nikon
• Holga 120N
• Holga Wide Pinhole
• Holga 120 GCFN
• Holga 120 NF
• Tripod
• 30 plus rolls of film

Unfortunately, I am leaving behind my Holga 120 PAN, which produces a 6×12 cm image. I am starting to really like this camera.

6:00 a.m. – I checked-in for my first leg of flights, Dallas to Columbus. The tour begins bright and early tomorrow morning.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Updated Elsa, my Garmin GPS, with the latest maps. I loaded Elsa with all my stops via Google Maps and the Firefox Add-On for Garmin Communicator. It was very easy.

I also found out that Elsa is really a Samantha, but I prefer Elsa.

Friday, June 29, 2012

7:00 p.m. – I know this is truly mundane, but the shoes where the correct size. I went to two stores to figure it out.

3:30 p.m. – I got the right pants. I preferred the First Accent pants over the Travex Pants. I got a pair in charcoal. I already have tan. I also got another web belt and socks.

9:30 a.m. – I’m wearing my new North Face hiking shoes to work today. The shoe are very comfortable but I’ve determined the shoes may be a half size too big. I’ll have to see about exchanging them later. Since I’m thinking about exchanging them, I am sitting shoe-less at my desk today.

I’ll be stopping by Eddie Bauer later today for a pants exchange. It’s almost as if I don’t know how to shop. I’ve never had to return any film.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

I’m testing updates to my travel log through my phone. It’s not as easy as I would like, but it is better than nothing. Thanks for reading.

8:45 p.m. – I noticed an error with my Eddie Bauer pants order. I ordered the wrong pants. I ordered Travex Pants instead of First Accent pants. I just got off the phone with Karen at my local Eddie Bauer outlet. She said they can take the return and get me the right pants. Now there’s service with a smile.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Both my Travex Pants from Eddie Bauer and film from B&H Photo Video arrived. I just love the smell of fresh film and new camera. Mmmmm … camera.

Sunday, June 25, 2012

I ordered film from B&H Photo Video. I’m getting the following:

• Kodak Ektar 100 color film
• Kodak Portra 160 and 400 color film
• Kodak T-MAX 100 and 400 black and white film
• Holga 120 PC Pinhole Camera

I can never have too many Holga cameras. Cheers.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I ordered Travex Pants from Eddie Bauer. I already own a pair of these pants. They are really light weight and comfortable. Travex Pants have lots of pockets with zippers, which I don’t really use but enjoy having. I like them because they are lighter weight than blue jeans. Tromping through graveyards in shorts is not an option. Travex Pants are the way to go.

Monday, June 4, 2012

I booked all my flights and car rentals today. It was a beating working out all the logistics, but I finally have it done. The Kennedy Assassination Tour Summer 2012 is a go.

Starting on Monday and ending Friday, I will be making eleven stops to photograph the people, places and things associated with the Kennedy assassination.

Here is my itinerary:

• Monday, July 2
  • Fly to Columbus, OH
  • National Museum of the USAF in Dayton, OH
    Kennedy’s Air Force One – SAM 26000
  • Fly to Chicago, IL
• Tuesday, July 3
  • Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe, IL
    Lee Harvey Oswald’s original gravestone
  • Chicago, IL
    Jack Ruby’s grave – Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters as Oswald was being transferred to the county jail.
    Karyn Cookie Kupcinet’s grave – Kupcinet is rumored to have been killed for her silence in the Kennedy assassination.
    Klein’s Sporting Goods – Klein’s is the business that sold the rifle to Lee Harvey Oswald via mail order.
  • Fly to Detroit, MI
• Wednesday, July 4
  • President Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum in Grand Rapids, MI
    Warren Commission Member then U.S. Rep. Gerald Ford
  • The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, MI
    Kennedy’s Limo
  • Fly to Greenville/Spartanburg, NC
• Thursday, July 5
  • Waynesville, NC
    Kennedy Limo Driver William Greer’s grave
  • Athens, GA
    Kennedy’s Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s grave
  • Commerce, GA
    Warren Commission Member U.S. Senator Richard Russell’s grave
  • Fly to Tampa, FL
• Friday, July 6
  • Tampa, FL
    Kennedy’s Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman’s grave
  • Fly to Dallas

I have a very tight schedule. I will be traveling most of the time with a very limited amount of time for sleeping and showering. It will be just me, a camera bag and a small carry-on bag. I expect to walk off the plane to the rental car bus, which will take me to my waiting car. I have Gold Plus Rewards status with the car rental agency I will be using, so there will be no waiting in lines for my ride.

Important Stops

Other than President Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald, whose graves I have already photographed, these are the most important stops for my book. Because the list of people, places and things associated with the Kennedy assassination is nearly endless, I have chosen to focus on the most important and iconic photographs for my book. My goal is to photograph everyone in Kennedy’s limo and some of the people at the Texas School Book Depository, Dealey Plaza and on Air Force One.

Names in italics are those that I still need to find and photograph.

• Kennedy’s Limo
  • Driver William Greer
  • Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman
  • Nellie Connally
  • Gov. John Connally
  • First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
  • President John F. Kennedy
• Texas School Book Depository and Dealey Plaza
  • Alleged Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald
  • TSBD Worker Billy N. Lovelady
  • Railroad Supervisor Sterling M. Holland
  • TSBD Supervisor Roy S. Truly
  • Dallas Police Motorcycle Officer Marrion L. Baker
  • Filmmaker Abraham Zapruder
  • Filmmaker Orville Nix
• Air Force One
  • President Lyndon B. Johnson
  • First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson
  • Federal Judge Sarah Hughes
  • US Rep. Albert Thomas
  • Air Force One Pilot Col. James Swindal
  • White House Photographer Cecil W. Stoughton

The completion of the Kennedy Assassination Tour Summer 2012 will mean that I have enough photographs to start assembling my book, Death by Holga: 11.22.63.

Bonuses

There are a few perks along the way. While in Chicago, I will be stopping by the Hemingway birthplace home in Oak Park, IL. Hemingway is my favorite author and I would love for my next book to be Death by Holga: Hemingway.

Also in the Chicago area, while I am photographing the graves of Jack Ruby and Karyn Kupcinet, I have the opportunity to get the graves of film critic Gene Siskel, The Brady Bunch actor Robert Reed, Where the Sidewalk Ends poet Shel Silverstein and mob boss Al Capone. I don’t know if I have time for all of these, but I will sure try.

Find a Grave

I am using Find a Grave (findagrave.com) for most of my grave hunting. Find a Grave is a great resource for locating graves of famous and not-so famous people. If Find a Grave does not have a particular grave listed, a request can be made to have a local Find a Grave volunteer, like myself, find and photograph it.

I have created a virtual cemetery of all the people I will try to find on my Kennedy Assassination Tour Summer 2012. Click here to view my virtual cemetery.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

I will be updating my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages during this trip. I will have lots of down time in airports to make regular updates. Please follow along and send me a message or two. My tour is a one man adventure and I could use the company. Cheers.

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeathByHolga
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrHolga
• Instagram: MrHolga

I located Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) worker Billy Nolan Lovelady (1937-79) in the Van Alstyne Cemetery. Lovelady witnessed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy from the steps of the TSBD. He was photographed by several people who were filming the president as the motorcade proceeded down Elm Street.

In poor quality photographs (i.e. 8mm movies and Polaroids), Billy Lovelady looks strikingly similar to Lee Harvey Oswald. So much so that many conspiracy theories base Oswald’s innocents on the fact that he was photographed on the front steps and could not have been on the sixth floor.

Adding more fuel to the fire was the fact that Lovelady and Oswald were both wearing white t-shirts under striped, long-sleeve shirts. Similar looks and similar attire sure leads to a lot more questions about the true location of Oswald during the shooting.

Billy Lovelady is buried next to his wife Patricia (1938-96). They have a joint gravestone with a flower vase in the center above their family name.

Holga Shots

I took several shots using different films and cameras. The main issue was that Billy’s side of the gravestone was in the shadow of a large crepe myrtle. I took lots of shots with and without flash. If the shots don’t come out, then I might have to visit them again with last afternoon sun, when the shadow of the crepe myrtle has passed.

Van Alstyne Cemetery

The Van Alstyne Cemetery is located in Van Alstyne, Texas, which is about an hour drive north of Dallas. The Van Alstyne Cemetery is very large for a country cemetery (5,000+ internments). The cemetery is also the final resting place for Collin McKenney, a Texas revolutionary who helped draft the Texas Declaration of Independence.

The Van Alstyne Cemetery is typical of most country cemeteries in Texas. Due to drought and water restrictions, most of the grass is dried and brittle. This cemetery does have a good amount of trees and some effort was put into the landscaping. Just don’t expect a part-like atmosphere any time soon.

Yesterday, I found Sterling Mayfield Holland. He is a famous witness to the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963. Holland, a signal supervisor for Union Terminal Railroad, was standing on the triple overpass above Elm Street. He claims to have seen a shot fired fired from behind the fence on the grassy knoll.

Holland testified: There was a shot, a report. I don’t know whether it was a shot. I can’t say that. And a puff of smoke came out about 6 or 8 feet above the ground right out from under those trees [indicating the grassy knoll area]. And at just about this location from where I was standing you could see that puff of smoke, like someone had thrown a firecracker, or something out, and that is just about the way it sounded. It wasn’t as loud as the previous reports or shots.

By this simple testimony, Holland becomes the father of the Kennedy assassination conspiracy and the starting point for thousands of second gunman theories.

Holland is buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Dallas. He is resting along side his wife, Ruby Ann Cox Holland. The couple are located in section 30. They are not very far from musician Stevie Ray Vaughan and Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit.

Mr. and Mrs. Sterling can be found at N 32.67426º, W 096.81355º, E 609 ft.

Holga Shots

Grave markers are not my favorite. And neither are sunny days. You never know which way your shadow will be casting. Unfortunately, the sun was at my back, so I was casting on the markers. I hate having to do this, but I photographed the markers from the up-side-down position.

I usually take several shots of each marker. I shoot using the single setting and also the family setting. I think I am tall enough to pull off the family setting with my arms extended out. We’ll know when the film comes back.

Due to the intense afternoon sun, I used Kodak Portra 160 ISO. I probably could have used 100 ISO. I prefer overcast days. Cloudy days eliminate my shadow and it brings out the colors.